The Quick Low-Down of Corporate Visions and why they Fail

Friday 3 July 2015

I've just read an article about Corporate Visions and getting employees on the same page. And as happens so often, I shook my head because it offered the same flawed advice about what a leader needs to do to get their employees to buy into the Vision. And therein lays the fatal flaw

You CANNOT get people to buy into YOUR Vision. If YOU have written a Vision for the company, it is NOT the employee's Vision it is Yours. There is nothing worong with writing your own Vision and is highly recommended. But please understand that the only one who needs to be truly excited by your Vision is YOU.

That does not mean that others can't be excited by your vision. That said, the reason they'll be most excited and engaged with your Vision is when they understand or perceive that it will help them achieve THEIR Vision!

And that then is the CORE ACTION for any leader to take. Stop deluding yourself with the idea that you can force/coax others to 'buy into' your vision. You can't. But what you can do is:

a) help an employee define what their own Vision is and

b) show how achieving your Vision will help them achieve their own, and

c) show how your Vision and their Vision may have strong alignment (and is therefore worth pursuing)

When you have that, you have a Vision that can work for you.

Of course the other way is just allow your employees to consider and define what your company Vision ought to be. Then it's their Vision too and no coaxing is required!

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